Interview: Sam Raimi

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The producer/director talks about Boogeyman, the evolution of his career and test screenings.

By Jeff Otto

Sam Raimi's career has been on a serious upswing for the past five years. After the enormously successful Spider-Man 1 and 2, he has become one of the highest profile directors in Hollywood. Now, Raimi's credibility as producer is on the rise as well. He and Rob Tapert's production company, Ghost House Pictures, now has their second straight success on their hands after this weekend's impressive opening of Boogeyman, which follows last year's surprise hit, The Grudge.

The Boogeyman is directed by Stephen Kay and stars Barry Watson as Tim Jensen. As a child, Jensen watched in horror as a terrifying dark figure emerged from his closet and took away his father. Now years later, Jensen lives in constant paranoia of the boogeyman and of closets and closed spaces in general. His fears have taken things so far that he lives in a loft apartment without closets and has a see-through refrigerator. When Jensen's mother dies, he's forced to return home to the locale of the original events. After some counseling, Jensen decides that he must stay in the house where his father was first taken and confront the boogeyman.

IGN FilmForce spoke with Raimi last week at the press day for Boogeyman. Along with some pretty cool talk of Evil Dead and Spider-Man 3, Raimi spoke candidly about producing and the test screening process.

Before the massive success of the Spider-Man films, Sam Raimi admits that he may have been closer than many perceived to becoming a has-been. "Well Spider-Man brought me, as a director, in the industry, financial success, which I hadn't had. Although Rob and I had made Evil Dead and it's made like 28 times its original money back for the original investors, it's not considered in the industry to be a hit movie. Same with Darkman, that movie made some money for Universal, but it's never considered to be a hit movie. So, for the first time in my life, with Spider-Man, after working in the business for like 25 years professionally, I had a hit movie, which I actually had kinda given up on having. (Laughs) What it gave me was opportunity to start this company with Rob, and our partners Nathan Kahane and Joe Drake, where we could get financing to make fun, really cool new director-type exciting horror pictures.

"So it gave me opportunity and I can't say it's allowed me to make the kinds of movies that I've always wanted to make, because actually Spider-Man is the kind of movie I've always wanted to make. I've always loved Spider-Man. Or Evil Dead years ago was the kind of movie I wanted to make then, or at the time Darkman was the kind of movie I wanted to make, so I feel like I've always made the kinds of movies I've wanted to make. It's probably bought me a few more years in the business. You know how directors, people like them for a little while, they'll finance their pictures, then they kind of fall off the charts, it's not cool to work with that guy any more? [It happens] unfairly for a lot of fine directors. Well, my number was probably coming up and it probably bought me two or three more years until we go, 'He really sucks and we're not going to be working with him again.'"

Watson in Boogeyman finds one nasty bathtub

Although Raimi has produced films before launching Ghost House pictures, the company gives him and Tapert a level of control they hadn't previously had. "I've often been a producer. I was one of the executive producers with Rob on Evil Dead and we went around with our briefcases and got the money together. He was the brains behind it, but we put in the leg work together&#Array; We produced a few shows&#Array; So I didn't look at it as a new thing&#Array; Spider-Man has made a big hit in the world of film and now I can use this to transition into, Rob and I can use this to build a company to make motion pictures&#Array; So we finally had the ability to make a company where we could produce pictures. And I mean, producing, the real sense of the word, where we get the money for them. Modern day producers often just are hired by the studios and they are, in the studio's mind, they are replaceable oftentimes. We didn't want to be in a position like that. We wanted to get the financing, have a hand in the sales, really determine, 'Who are the right directors,' without having to say, 'Can we do this,' to anybody&#Array;

"We've always liked producing. Some of our heroes are guys like Dino de Laurentiis, not just directors. But we've always admired Dino de Laurentiis, his ability to weather all sorts of studios to come and go, regimes that come and go, trends that come and go, he's always been making pictures. And he makes a lot of great pictures. All throughout the years, I mean this guy was back making Fellini's La Strada. Actually White Sheep was his first picture, but one of Fellini's earliest pictures. And he's still there 30 years later making King Kong&#Array;"